


Waiting for A Good Fight

by MouseBird



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, honestly this whole fic is just an excuse to have Patroka and Mòrag make out a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 10:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17547641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MouseBird/pseuds/MouseBird
Summary: It turns out Jin wasn't the only member of Torna to make a temporary truce in Morytha.





	Waiting for A Good Fight

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to try to write something in present tense instead of past, so if there's weird tense stuff I'm going to pretend like that's why...

It's probably just bad luck that Patroka had to run into the Flamebringer, of all people. She's probably on the bottom of the list of people who Patroka wants to see, though to be fair literally everyone but Jin are tied for last, anyways. He is the reason she is out here, after all. She figures it would be more efficient and, more importantly, much more entertaining to search for him on foot rather than staying in the Marsanes to do so. It's not every day she gets to explore the legendary Land of Morytha. It's not every day that she runs into the fucking Flamebringer, either.

Despite her rotten luck, It doesn't seem like Mòrag has noticed Patroka yet. She is currently preoccupied with fighting off a bunch of those humanoid abominations that inhabit this land.

She has the whipswords with her, but she isn't using any arts or using them in their whip form. They probably don't have much ether left in them, though they still have a blue glow in them so there must be some.

She isn't even using both of the whipswords, one of them is lying against her hip. Patroka can't see one of her arms from her current vantage point, but she assumes that it was somehow injured in the fall.

Right, Mòrag's human after all, probably. Most humans would probably have died from falling to Morytha, though most humans would have not been able to brush off cannon fire either.

Patroka had once thought that Mòrag was a flesh eater or a blade eater because of that, though she figured otherwise once she saw her reaction to finding out that most of Torna are flesh eaters.

Plus, if she is some sort of blade, then her current injuries shouldn’t be slowing her down as much as they are.

Killing her right now would be easy. She should probably go for the kill. Human or not, Mòrag's a powerful ally of that other Aegis. It would mean one less pain in the ass to deal with too.

But killing her now would be too easy, and what's the fun in that?

Killing the Flamebringer in a fair fight? Now that'd be a good time.

Despite her weakened state, Mòrag is still putting up a good fight against those creatures. Her attacks are a lot slower and less aggressive than before, probably due to being without Brighid.

She's actually not attacking all that much, rather she's waiting for the creatures to strike first and dodging or parrying their attacks when they come.

She's waiting for an opening, Patroka realizes. It's something Patroka never really has to do herself. She just creates openings if she needs them, and even without a clear opening, hitting her enemies hard enough usually does the trick. It's a very… human way to fight.

It's a bit boring to watch and, without Brighid, Mòrag is unable use any of those flashy blue flames either.

The openings do come, although they do take a while, and Mòrag is able to incapacitate all of the creatures surrounding her with a few well placed hits. They are all down, but they are writhing on the floor and their wounds are healing at an accelerated rate, so they won't be for long.

Mòrag turns around, and Patroka catches a glimpse of her injured arm. Its shape seems off, like it's bending in a way that it shouldn't be. She isn't able to make out the finer details of it, as Mòrag hides her arm behind her back once she sees Patroka.

She gets into a defensive stance and her and bares her teeth. Her stance is a bit unsteady. she has all of her weight on her one foot, and Patroka can see that there's a dent in the greave of her other foot. She points the end of the whipsword at Patroka, as if she could actually pose a threat to Patroka in her current state.

Patroka has to physically stop herself from laughing at the display. Maybe the Flamebringer is stupider than she had assumed, she should know that she would have already been dead if Patroka wanted her to be dead.

Just to humor her, Patroka takes out her bardiche and points it at Mòrag.

Mòrag narrows her eyes and waits for an attack that's not going to come.

Patroka takes a step toward her.

Mòrag steps back, her injured foot shaking when she lands on it. She quickly readjusts her weight to her good foot. Her eyes never leave Patroka.

Something behind Mòrag moves, though she doesn't seem to notice it. It would be a shame if one of those creatures killed the Flamebringer before Patroka got a chance to have a crack at her.

Patroka lowers her weapons and points at the ground behind Mòrag.

Mòrag's eyebrows knit together, but only for a split second. She doesn't even bother to glance behind her.

The creature grabs onto Mòrag's bad leg. It pulls her to the ground before she can free herself.

Its clawed hand is about to rip through Mòrag's chest, but Patroka lobs off the creature's claw in one strong swipe. Mòrag able to throw it off of her and get back on her feet. She shoves her blade into the thing's neck.

Its squirming on the floor now, not dead but not able to attack either.

Mòrag narrows her eyes at her. "You-" she starts but she's cut off by inhuman groans of the creatures she had previously cut down.

Some of them are getting up now, no longer incapacitated. Their wounds are all but gone.

Patroka lets herself relax and prepares to watch the following battle unfold, but then Mòrag points behind her.

There's a few there that have their eyes on her rather than Mòrag, so Patroka turns to them and readies her weapon. Guess relaxing will have to wait, though really this is just a different form of that. Now the fun has truly begun.

She's able to cut most of them down. Hell, some of them aren't even moving anymore after she's done with them. She's even dealing with ones who seem to be targeting Mòrag instead.

Mòrag seems to be doing the same too, as none of the creatures behind her have managed to attack her.

This is almost too easy, Patroka thinks.

But then she hesitates for just a second and one of the horrid creatures manages to wrap its claw around her neck and lifts her up. Her bardiche lands on the floor with a metallic bang. She tries to suck in some air but it isn't able to get to her lungs. Patroka tries to pry the thing's claws off her neck, but its grip is too strong. She wonders if this is what Mòrag felt like when Mikhail had her in a similar state. She can't help but also wonder if this is going to be it, if she's going to die here, in some ancient land, before she could even get the chance to kill Mòrag.

But then she falls to the ground and above her the creature is engulfed by a brilliant blue. It burns into ashes right before her very eyes.

She sees Mòrag standing above her, her whipswords now dull in color. Mòrag had used the last of the ether in her swords to save her. How… stupid of her.

All of the creatures are down again, but Patroka knows that won't be the case for long as she sees some of their wounds start to close up again. Patroka grabs her bardiche in preparation and gets up.

She knows what she is going to suggest is probably for the best, but that doesn't mean she's going to like it. "How about a temporary truce?" She asks and sticks out her hand.

Mòrag looks at her with suspicion, but Patroka knows that she's in no condition to refuse. Reluctantly, Mòrag shakes her hand. Even through the fabric of her gloves, Patroka can tell that her hands are calloused from battle. "Don't think that this means that I have forgotten what you have done," she says.

"No, of course not," Patroka says. She hasn't forgotten the shit that the damn woman has done either. It's partially her fault that the damn Aegis was able to kill her blade, making Patroka lose access a lot of her weapons.

There's no time to dwell on the past though, the creatures are already getting up again. it's not all of them this time. The one that's just ashes now definitely is not getting up, and Patroka realizes that neither are any of the ones that she had cut down. It's only the ones that Mòrag dealt with without using any arts.

It would be a bit unfair if she's the only one who's actually making progress on killing these things, so instead of getting into a battle stance, Patroka hands Mòrag her bardiche.

Mòrag looks at it, but she doesn't accept it. Her grip tightens on the dull whipsword.

The creatures are going to attack soon, they don't have time for this.

"Pull your damn weight," Patroka hisses, pointing at all the creatures Mòrag has failed to kill. She pokes her hand with the end of her pole arm.

Mòrag actually puts her whipsword back into its hostler, and slowly grabs the bardiche like its an animal that could bite her. "If you insist," she says and takes the weapon from Patroka.

Mòrag gets into a fighting stance, and the creatures start to attack again.

Even though she’s only using one hand, her attacks are much faster and controlled than Patroka's. There’s a lot less brute force in her swings too. She's still looking for openings, but she is able to create her own if needed so she doesn't have to wait for them now.  
  
It's a beautiful sight, seeing the mighty Flamebringer strike down her enemies without any sign of hesitation. Maybe if Mòrag had been her driver instead, she wouldn't have become a flesh eater. Hesitation is what had gotten her driver killed, after all.

Then Patroka feels something that she hasn't felt in a long time. She had almost forgotten what it felt like. An ether tether forms between her and Mòrag. It's not very strong but it's there. It's a bit different than the one that had formed between her and her original driver. She can't tell if that's because Mòrag's a different person, or because she's different now. It's not like she remembers how it was like with other drivers, anyways.

She can feel some sort of desperation through the tether, but she can't tell if its from her or Mòrag.

Mòrag seems to have noticed too, as her attacks are now a bit more messy and forceful, but it still has her speed behind them, too.

One of the creatures manages to get past Mòrag and heads to Patroka. Mòrag passes the bardiche to Patroka.

There's still creatures attacking Mòrag though, so she switches back to the whipsword. Patroka can feel Mòrag still using her ether to strengthen her attacks, despite not being able to use any of her arts with them. It's weird to have her ether used to power something that isn't her own weapon. It feels off.

She finishes the creature fast enough, and basically forces her pole arm back into Mòrag's hands.

Mòrag is able to hold the rest off from heading for Patroka. There's now only one left, and Patroka wants to kill it.

Mòrag senses her killing intent through the ether tether and slows it down for Patroka, but doesn't kill it. She throws the bardiche back to Patroka to deliver the final blow and thankfully doesn't pull out her whipsword again. Patroka thrusts it through the creature's head, breaking the blue crystal into tiny little pieces. It writhes on the floor for a few moments before going completely still. Patroka stomps on it and smiles when it doesn't move.

She looks up at Mòrag, who is staring back. Both are first unsure what to do now that the threat is gone, but then they start walking towards each other. The ether tether is a lot stronger now after the battle, and there's something else in there too. Patroka at first thought it was relief, but no, it's something else.

As if they were acting on pure instinct, they kiss. It's fast and messy and and slightly uncomfortable. Patroka isn't actually sure which one of them had kissed first but the other had kissed back so she figures that hardly matters.

Both of them are unsure what to do, and their teeth end up awkwardly clinking together. Mòrag makes some sort of apologetic groan against Patroka's lips and then tries to force her tongue into Patroka's mouth. She responds by trying to do the same.

Patroka isn't sure where to put her hands, so she ends up placing them on Mòrag's head, her fingers digging into her hair that isn't hidden under her hat. Her bardiche had been discarded on the ground, but that's fine, Patroka can just summon up a new one if needed. Mòrag has one hand around Patroka's waist, trying to use Patroka to keep herself steady. Even like this, Mòrag is still hiding her injured arm behind her back.

The ether is golden now and Patroka can see the glow from it under her eyelids. She realizes the other thing she feels through it is lust, though she is unable to tell who it is coming from like before. The desperation is still there too.

Eventually they pull apart. Both of them are panting and out of breath. Patroka can't remember the last time she was so light headed, if ever. She wonders if this is what being human feels like.

"You kiss pretty well for a pain in the ass," Patroka says. She's not actually sure if that was a good kiss, since it was her first. Actually, she's pretty sure it wasn't, considering how messy it was. Maybe it was Mòrag's first too. She wants it to be.

"No, I can do better," Mòrag says.

Patroka raises an eyebrow, and lets her prove her words.

Mòrag goes slow at first. The kisses are gentle, but also stiff and awkward at the same time. Patroka wants to yell at her to let loose like she did in battle, but her lips are currently occupied. Instead she can feel her own desperation grow and she guesses Mòrag could feel it too as she starts to get faster and grow more aggressive. She becomes less rigid too.

Despite her ferocity, her lips are soft and her perfume smells nice despite that its mixed with sweat, blood, and ether. Patroka can taste some blood on her tongue but there isn't enough there for it to be worrying, probably.

It's nice and all, but Patroka wants more.

She uses Mòrag's collar to pull her closer, but it seems to have the opposite effect of what she wanted as Mòrag stops kissing her. Patroka is about to say something but then Mòrag starts to nibble on her bottom lip.

Mòrag is about to do something more but she is interrupted by a inhuman groan. They pull apart, rather both kind of push each other away, and the ether tether finally breaks. Despite that, Patroka can still feel the lust and desperation that was there before, though it isn't as strong.

Patroka can now see that familiar blue glow in the distance. In fact, it's more like a sea of blue that was getting brighter and brighter by the second. There's probably a lot more of those things than what Mòrag or Patroka are capable of dealing with. Mòrag is in no state to run though, but it would probably be rude to just leave Mòrag here to die after all they had been through.

Patroka crouches to the ground. "Get on my back," she instructs.

"I'm perfectly fine on my own," Mòrag says. She starts to limp away. Patroka gives her a few seconds before catching up with her in one step. Mòrag glares at her, but then she stops limping when she catches sight of the creatures. Patroka looks at them too, she can already make out the humanoid shapes of them in the distance, though this time some of them look a lot more inhuman. Some of them look a lot bigger than the ones they just dealt with too.

Patroka crouches again. Mòrag finally gives up whatever dumb pride she was holding onto and climbs on Patroka's back. She mutters something that sounds like a thank you, but Patroka isn't too sure.

"Atta girl," Patroka says. She hoists Mòrag up and runs off. She's a bit slower than usual with the added weight on her. Mòrag's a bit heavier than she looks, probably due to all the muscle that she hides under that damn uniform of hers. Patroka is still faster than the creatures though, the blue glow in the distance growing dimmer and dimmer as she runs.

Once the glow disappears from her field of vision completely, Patroka places Mòrag down against a building. It doesn't seem to be in as bad of a shape as most of the other buildings in Morytha.

She walks around the perimeter just to make sure there are no other creatures around. As much as Patroka loves fighting, battling against the same thing over and over can get boring.

After Patroka is sure that the area is clear, she returns to Mòrag.

She sees Mòrag inspecting her arm, but once Mòrag hears her approaching she hides it behind her back. Unbelievable, even after all they have been through, she's still acting like this.

That's fine, it's not like she wants to see the stupid arm anyways. And yet Patroka finds herself saying, "Let me see your arm, I can help you." She's not even sure if she can do that, but it sounds like the right thing to say.

Mòrag narrows her eyes and says nothing. Her arm remains behind her back. Mòrag's face is ever so slightly scrunched up in pain. Maybe holding the arm in that position is hurting her, yet she's still not budging.

Patroka just wants to grab her arm and pull it out, but she knows that would just make matters worse. This is stupid, she just wants to help her. She wonders if Mòrag is acting like this because she has been betrayed before or maybe she's just naturally untrusting. Maybe she truly can't forget the things that Patroka has done, even just for this situation.

Patroka finds herself wanting to gag when she says, "I won't harm you. We're at a truce, remember?” She'll try not to harm her, at least. Maybe.

Mòrag still looks at her with suspicion, but she does finally remove her arm from behind her back.

"Was that so hard?" Patroka says but Mòrag says nothing back. Now that Patroka can clearly see the arm she can tell that there's something sticking out of it that shouldn't be. A bone, she assumes. She can’t really think of anything else it could be, anyways.

She usually leaves any of the medical stuff to Akhos, but he isn't here right now. She remembers him treating similar wounds when they were pretending to be human. He had set them and used something like a splint for to hold the arm in place.

Patroka picks up a long piece of broken stone and some wire that she finds lying nearby. Gently, she sets Mòrag's arm against the stone. And then not so gently, she slams her hand against the bone to snap it back into place.

Mòrag yells in pain. There are tears building up in the corners of her eyes. Patroka can't but smile at the sight of the mighty Flamebringer looking so vulnerable.

"A warning would have been nice," Mòrag hisses.

Patroka ties the wire around the arm and the stone. "A thanks would be nice, too," Patroka says.

Mòrag doesn't reply. Instead she moves her injured arm up and down. She tightens the wire and shifts the stone to give her arm more support. After she's done with her adjustments, Mòrag closes her eyes and leans her head against the building.

Now that they aren't running or fighting, Patroka can she just how exhausted Mòrag looks. Her shoulders are dropping, and her head keeps slowly bobbing up and down, like she's fighting against gravity.

Patroka sits next to her and leans against the building. Neither of them say a word.

They stay in silence for a while. Silence isn't something Patroka has the honor of experiencing often, considering how she's usually just fighting. When she isn't Mikhail or Akhos tend to be bothering her, either with Mikhail trying to flirt with her, or with Akhos talking about being siblings. She wishes she could experience moments like this more, though she knows too much of it would end up getting boring too.

The silence is broken by a familiar roar coming from somewhere in the distance. It's not from one of those creatures, though. No, it sounds more like its from an animal or a blade. It's from Dromarch, Patroka realizes, the blade of that damn traitor.

Mòrag opens her eyes and tries to get up at the noise, but she stumbles. She's looking a lot paler than usual, and there's a large red-tinted spot on the sleeve that’s covering her broken arm. Maybe snapping that bone back in place was a bad idea. Oops.

She grabs Mòrag's good arm and helps her up. She throws the arm around her shoulders and Mòrag leans against her for support.

Together they shuffle towards the noise, but Patroka finds herself wishing that they never reach Nia.

But they reach her a lot faster than Patroka was expecting. It's probably for the best, if she lets herself get any closer to Mòrag than she might actually find it hard to kill her later.

When Nia catches sight of Patroka, she immediately grabs her twin rings and gets into a battle stance. She lowers her arms and knits her eyebrows together when she sees Mòrag hanging around her neck.

Wordlessly, Patroka basically throws Mòrag to Nia. The only sound that’s exchanged between the three of them is Mòrag grunting in pain.

Patroka turns on her heels, and walks away from the three of them. Mòrag's in good hands now, she'll be okay. She'll be ready and healed the next time they meet, so Patroka can strike her down without any hesitation or guilt.

Just to make sure Nia didn't suddenly decide to switch sides yet again, Patroka turns her head around. Patroka feels some sort of pit in her stomach when she sees that Mòrag isn't bothering to hide her injured arm from Nia. Why would she, anyways? They're a part of the same team, after all. Nia's healing it and Mòrag's coloring is already improving.

It shouldn't bother her. Mòrag isn't her friend or even ally, they are just in a temporary truce. Well more like was in a truce now that they didn't really need each other anymore. Patroka didn't really need Mòrag then, anyways. She was just… bored. That was it. That was why she helped.

Mòrag's just a human anyways. A strong one, sure, but still a human nethertheless. Humans have no place in Patroka's life, besides at the end of her blade, and she'd like to keep it that way.

And yet...

"Patroka!" she hears Mòrag call.

She knows she shouldn’t, but Patroka turns around.

"Thank you," Mòrag says. The patch of blood is still visible on her uniform, but all her injuries have been healed. She actually smiles at Patroka, though it only lasts for a second before it's gone. Patroka thinks that the smile fits her face nicely.

Patroka faces away before Mòrag could see the smile on her own face. She doesn't want Mòrag to feel the satisfaction. She raises a hand in response and walks away, not daring to look back again. Something in her fears that she might find it hard to return to Torna if she did.

But she does head back to the ship and to Torna, ready as ever to help Malos and Jin kill the architect, and possibly the Flamebringer too, if she stands in their way. She won't hesitate either, that's what killed her driver after all.

But for some reason, Patroka can't get the feel of Mòrag's lips out of her mind. It will leave eventually, maybe.


End file.
